Suspender-buckle.



N0= 849,004. PATENTED APR. 2, 1907.

J. MALTBY.

SUSPENDER BUCKLE. APPLICATION FILED ooms. 1906.

UNITED ;srarns Paras rrro JULIUS MALTBY, or WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNoR TO WATER- BURY BUCKLE 00., or WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, a CORPORATION.

SUSPENDER-BUCKLE.

Specif cation of Letters Patent.

Patented April 2,1907.

To alZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Jumps MALTBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Suspender-Buckles and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionv of the same, and-which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1; a view in front elevation of a buckle constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a view thereof in rear elevation; Fig. 2 a view of one of the modified forms which the buckle-frame may assume; Fig. 8, a view thereof in horizontal section on the line a b of Fig. 2, showing the buckle as webbed; Fig. 4, a view of the buckle in vertical central section, showing it as webbed;

Fi 5, a detached view, in rear elevation, of the we J-gripping slide of the bucklefra me Fig. 6, a plan view thereof.

My invention relates to an im rovement in Suspender-buckles, the object eing to produce at a low cost for manufacture a simple, compact, convenient, and effective buckle constructed with particular reference to being practically rustless and to avoiding recourse to sewing or to the use of a supple mentary lever for securing the lower or fixed end of the webbing in place.

In carrying out my invention'as herein shown I employ a buckle-framemade from a sin le piece of Wire and comprising a horizontallower bar 2, corresponding ends 3, and an 11 per bar 4, formed by the ends of the wire, w 'ch may be made long enough to meet each other, as shown in Fig. 2 or extended inwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, just far enough to answer as pintles for the sheet-metal buckle-lever 6, which is provided at its 11 per end with two sleeve-like knuckles 7, which embrace the ends of the upper bar 4 or the pintles, Whichever way it may be made. As shown, the buckle-frame is made of wire; but,

if preferred, it might be made of sheet metal. Th

e upper end of the lever is also formed with a short arm 8, having a serrated gripping edge and bent at an angle with respect to the main body of the lever. Upon the sides 3 of the frame I mount a web-gripping slide 9, narrower than the width of the frame,

made of sheet metal and bent at itsaands to form sleeves 10, which embrace the ends 3 without gripping the sanie, whereby the slide is left free to move up and down. Prefer- 1 ably, however, the sleeves 10 will hug the ends 3 sufficiently to produce enough frictlon to prevent the slide from moving with undue freedom. This slide is provided near its ends with inwardly-extending web-holding fingers 11, set back from its plane to form between them a space about equal to the thickness of an ordinary iece of webbing. As shown and preferab y, these fingers will be struck out from the body of the slide, though this is not at all imperative. When'this is done, two openings 12 will be formed in the slide near the ends thereof. The edges of the webbing are hooked under these fingers, whereby they not only assist in reventing the webbing from slipping in the ame, but also hold it down flat against the rear face of the slide, and so contribute to-the'flatness and shapeliness and comfort of the buckle as webbed.

In webbing the buckle the lower or fixed end 13 of the webbing is passed from rear to front over the upper-edge of the slide 9 and then downward over the front of the slide, and then from front to rear between the lower edge of the slide and the lower bar 2 of the buckle-frame, the edges of that portion of the fixed end of the webbing assing over the back of the slide being caug t under the fingers 11. The loop of webbing so formed is now drawn downward, with the effect of drawing the slide downward with respect to the frame, whereby the end of the Webbing is caught and pinched between the lower edge of the slide and the upper face of the lower bar 2 of the frame at the point 14. In this Way the webbing is gripped and held as securely as though sewed in the ordinary way, or gripped by a supplementary lever, such as are used in the so-called double-back buckles.

It will be observed that the end 13 of the webbing is folded over the upper edge of the slide and so held by virtue of being held flat against the rear face of the slide by the webholding fingers 11. This folding of the webbing over the upper edge of the slide secures a sort of bite upon the webbing and, as it were, protects the main grip of the webbing 'proportioned to the width of the buckleframe that when the lever is crowded into its closed position it acts, through the running portion of the webbing, to crowd the slide downward, as shown in Fig. 4. Here it may be explained that the running length of the webbing is passed from front to rear through i the space between the upper edge of the slide and the upper bar of the frame.

N ow when the lever-6 is forced into its closed position the running portion 15 of .the webbing will be 'deflectedfrom front to rear over the upper edge of the slide, which is at this time covered by the folded lower end of the webbing. It will be understood, of course, that the greater the downward strain upon the lower end of the Webbing the greaterthe grip of the slide. upon the-said end of the webbing. If at any time it is desired to adjust the lower end of the webbing, that can readily be done by lifting the slide, after which the said end of the webbing may be slipped one ,way or the other freely through the buckle-frame.

Thus if the webbing becomes stretched and too long it may be shifted in this way in the buckle-frame and the excess of length cutoff,

all without the trouble of ripping stitches and resewing. It 'will thus be seen that in my unproved buckle I combine the. advantages of a rustless buckle with double-back buckle.

I claim 1. In a suspender-buokle, the combination with the frame thereof, of a bucklelever mounted upon the upper portion of the said frame, and a web-gripping slide mountthose of a ed upon the ends of the frame soas to slide thereupon, and proportioned'in width to the width of the frame so that it wilLgrip'the webbing between its lower edge and the lower bar of the frame, while its upper'edge is coacting ,With the lever for holding the running portion'of the webbing.

f 2. In a Suspender-buckle, the.co1nbination with the frame thereof, of axbuckle-lever mounted upon' the upper portion of the frame, and a web-gripping slide mounted upon the ends of the frame and provided near its ends with rearwardly-offset webholding fingers under which the edges of the webbing are caught to hold the webbing fiat against the back of the slide.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the mg witnesses.

JULIUS MALTBY. Witnesses: i

v H. CL CooLEY,

W. T. BRONSON.

presence of' two subscrib- 

